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The Poisoned Glass

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“A great read and a fascinating retelling of a long-forgotten murder, that still resonates to this very day… for anybody interested in the history of the Silk City!” –Mark S. Auerbach, City Historian, Passaic, New Jersey

At the dawn of the 20th century, the social unrest in Paterson, New Jersey was palpable. Thousands of Dutch and Italian immigrants flocked to the city, hoping for a job in Paterson’s famous silk mills. The burgeoning population ushered women into the workplace, grew suffragist sympathies, and produced an anarchist movement.

In this charged environment, Jennie Bosschieter, a 17-year-old Dutch immigrant and mill worker, was murdered. Sorrow turned to shock when four wealthy, influential citizens were accused of killing her. The resulting criminal trial held the city – and eventually the nation – transfixed.

219 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 8, 2019

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About the author

Kimberly Tilley

4 books100 followers
Kimberly Tilley unearths fascinating, forgotten crimes from the early twentieth century and brings them to today's readers. Her books, Grievous Deeds: Four Years of Fury in Chattanooga, Tennessee (2023); Has it Come to This? The Mysterious, Unsolved Murder of Frank Richardson (2022), Cold Heart: The Great Unsolved Mystery of Turn of the Century Buffalo (2020), and The Poisoned Glass (2019) were Amazon category best-sellers in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Visit Kimberly's website, Old Spirituals, to read more of her work, enter drawings and contests, and interact with the author and other readers on the discussion pages!

Kimberly is the co-founder of Pivot Talent Development LLC. We design and deliver genuine learning experiences that provide clarity, drive engagement, and empower individuals to unlock their potential through workshops and coaching.

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5 stars
270 (37%)
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264 (36%)
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150 (20%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
Profile Image for Deacon Tom (Feeling Better).
2,635 reviews244 followers
June 1, 2021
Accurate and Detailed

This was a very interesting and well written book. It tell the story of a turn of the 20th century rape & murder of a 17 year old woman.

The details of the book are very well researched and referenced. Bravo!

The storyline of the trial is a bit long and repetitive. However, it drew me into the story. In fact, I am not sure how I would have voted if I were on the jury.

Great read. I highly recommend.
Profile Image for Julia.
65 reviews
December 25, 2019
This was a very well-written historical true crime. I like reading accounts of historical crimes to do an infomal compare-contrast with how things would be similar or different in the present day, and also to get glimpses into the past. The writing was first rate, avoiding the problems sometimes found in true crime accounts, where the story is drawn out to an extreme degree or told in an awkward, incomprehensible manner. I was astounded at the foolish behavior of the men involved in attempting to cover up the crime, and the account was enhanced with the pictures and contemporary newspaper headlines. I noticed a number of parallels in the the crime and aftermath with People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo--and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up, which I recently read.
Profile Image for Brian.
344 reviews107 followers
July 24, 2020
I was drawn to this historical true-crime book because the crime victim was a young woman in the Dutch immigrant community of Paterson, New Jersey, at the turn of the 20th century. Many of my ancestors were members of that community who lived there at about that time. Both of my grandmothers and several of my great-aunts worked in the silk mills starting when they were young girls, just as the victim, Jennie Bosschieter, did. And I myself grew up near Paterson and lived in the Paterson area for most of my life.

Despite those connections, however, I had not previously heard about this crime, which, according to this book, appears to have been a major news story not only in Paterson but throughout much of the United States. So the book piqued my interest.

The author did a creditable job of researching the crime and the resulting trial, primarily from contemporaneous newspaper reports, to judge from the citations listed at the end. The crime against 17-year-old Jennie was brutal: she was drugged and raped and left for dead. (Details of the rape are implied rather than described. The rape was barely mentioned at trial.) The perpetrators were four men ranging in age from 25 to 42. At least two of them were members of the “upper crust” of Paterson society, who were arrogant about their status and seemingly callous about Jennie’s fate. After all, she was a poor working-class girl; her life wasn’t worth much to begin with. Some members of the community and the press shared this view, or they took the position that as a young woman out at night, she was responsible for what happened to her.

The book held my interest and was a quick read. I thought the writing was competent overall, but like quite a few other books I’ve read recently, a good copyeditor would have been useful (most egregious: unless I missed something, the name of one witness changed halfway through). In some places, it was a bit on the dry side.

I think the book could have been better with a few changes and additions. First, I don’t know that it was a good organizational decision to describe the crime at length right at the outset and then rehash it through the trial testimony. This decision required the author to pick one narrative from the beginning and stick with it, even though there was conflicting testimony. Second, I would have liked to read more about the different groups in the Paterson community, with more detail about their reactions to the crime. For example, I know that for most members of the Dutch immigrant community, their church was a primary focus of their lives. I would have liked to learn how the clergy and church elders viewed it. Did the “dominies” (pastors) view Jennie as an innocent victim, or did they use her murder as an object lesson to stay on the straight and narrow?

So, in summary, this was a good book about a crime that was famous at the time but has been forgotten as the years have gone by. I think it could have been better, but it’s still a worthwhile read. I recommend it to readers interested in true crime and to those like me with a connection to Paterson.
Profile Image for Valleri.
1,010 reviews43 followers
April 17, 2020
The Poisoned Glass was such a heartwrenching book to read. It told the true story of the murder of a 17-year-old girl who worked in a silk mill in Paterson New Jersey in 1900. Most fascinating to me was how some things are still the same today: The author did an amazing job researching the events and this is not a book I will forget any time soon.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for listing this giveaway on Goodreads.
Profile Image for Peggy Price.
454 reviews5 followers
October 2, 2019
Finished it quickly. Compelling and written in a fast-paced manner. Deplorable crime and despicable, slipshod police work and courtroom work. Jennie deserved better.
103 reviews2 followers
July 28, 2020
Very well written, best I've ever read in the genre!!!

I rarely read true crime because of the way it's usually written, jumping back and forth, with no logical timeline. Kimberly Tilley has crafted a true crime story that flows like a historical novel. I'd never heard of Jennie or the horrible 4 men who raped and killed her. I had no clue that date rape drugs were used outside of modern times. Sadly, the treatment of sexual assault on women hasn't truly advanced much, even after 120+ years!!! I truly appreciated this author's explanations of the culture during that time period. I even learned about something I'd wondered about before, the origin of the name funeral parlors! I was shocked at where and how embalming and autopsies were done back then!!!! Well done Kimberly Tilley!!! Look forward to reading future novels from you!!!
Profile Image for Ronnie Cramer.
1,031 reviews34 followers
April 13, 2021
Kimberly Tilley really has a knack for making old newspaper accounts into gripping narratives (I also enjoyed her other book COLD HEART). In addition to a strange and disturbing case from 1900, we also get fascinating side trips like this:

"It was customary then for the body of a family member to lie in the front room, formally known as the parlor, until the burial. When people began to use funeral homes instead of having the departed at home, the association of the term parlor was so strongly associated with death, a deliberate rebranding was required. Today, front rooms are called living rooms while the establishments where the dead wait are called funeral parlors."
4 reviews
August 9, 2021
Good read

Sensationally brutal turn of the century crime I’m sure most people have never heard of. I thought the story was well written and very well researched. Enjoyed it a lot.
Author 18 books34 followers
August 8, 2019
Four-star review of Kimberly Tilley’s The Poisoned Glass by Clifford Browder, author of the Metropolis series of historical novels.

Kimberly Tilley’s The Poisoned Glass (Black Rose Writing, 2019) is a thoroughly researched, detailed account of the shocking rape and murder of Jennie Bosschieter, a young immigrant girl in the mill town of Paterson, New Jersey, in 1900. The book’s title is an allusion to the knockout drops that one of the accused put in the girl’s drink without her knowing it. Her murder aroused the interest of the whole country. Reporters flocked, and the arrest and trial of four young men implicated in the crime were followed closely by the press nationwide. Many issues were involved: the vulnerability of young women in the workforce, the privileged status of the accused, the death penalty they risked incurring, the press’s rush to judgment before the trial had even begun, and the attempt by some to blame the victim.
Kimberly Tilley tells this story with unsparing detail, first recounting the events of the tragic night of the murder. Then she gives us, again in unsparing detail, the arrests and trial that followed, with quotes from the press of the time, and photographs from contemporary sources. To keep the four defendants straight, this reviewer had to take notes about each of them, lest he confuse one with another, and he almost had to do the same with the numerous prosecuting and defense attorneys during the court proceedings that followed.
Those proceedings are told in great, almost excessive, detail, even as suspense mounts in anticipation of the verdict. I wish the author had streamlined her account a bit; we have already heard the story of the fatal night, and then hear several versions of it again in court. Perhaps the reader should have been allowed to learn about the crime and the arrests as the public did, piecemeal, rather than having a complete account of the night’s events at the outset, followed by more accounts at the trial.
These quibbles aside, Kimberly Tilley has done a masterful job of retelling a once famous but now forgotten crime story that has resonance today, when we have renewed concerns about immigrants, the vulnerability of women, privilege, the death penalty, and the role of media in presenting the news without bias. Her account of Jennie Bosschieter’s tragic death and its aftermath reads like a novel, and one that you won’t easily put down.

I received an advance review copy from the author, but this has not influenced my review.
Profile Image for Judith.
45 reviews
August 29, 2020
Jennie Bosschieter was a 17 year old immigrant girl whose body was found in the early morning hours of October 19, 1900 in Paterson New Jersey. Jennie was not unlike many women her age. She worked at a local silk mill and in her off hours she visited friends she had in town. Her subsequent rape and murder by a group of men made national headlines. Her body was dumped like so much trash in a field. The leader of the group. Walter McAlister, was the son of a wealthy mill owner. His friend and companion, George Webb was one of the best known and well liked men in town. The trial revealed that some things have never changed. The defendants blamed Jennie for her own murder. The blackened her character in an effort to excuse their own behavior. It's sad to reflect Jennie's life could have been saved if she had been taken to a doctor. The conclusion of the trial seem less than just. The jurors and the media appeared to have more sympathy for the men than they did for the murdered girl. One hundred and twenty years later, the story of Jennie Bosschieter's live and death is acted out in cities and towns all over the world. Let her name be remembered.
354 reviews2 followers
July 30, 2020
Modern forensics would have done so much for this case—DNA, fingerprints, proper autopsy techniques—all would have been beneficial. While the crime itself was a huge scandal, it seems to have been forgotten. There’s another book here, begging to be written: more on the social issues (although the author does touch on those), and more on the terrible police work. I’m a lawyer, and I was yelling at the courtroom scenes. The prosecutors were lucky the guilt of the perpetrators was so obvious—it was a weak case for premeditation.

Profile Image for Arlene Baker.
20 reviews1 follower
August 11, 2020
Compelling!

Today's crime scene investigation and current science were not existant at the turn of the 20th century. Must of the investigation and events as they unfold are shocking in thier laxity but what does not change is class ,,,and the indifference of well off to the consequences they wreak upon those with no power. And of course, the constant effort to impune the integrity of the victim. Suspense of the trial and the sentencing...a page turner!
771 reviews6 followers
June 10, 2020
An interesting account of a turn of the (last) century murder trial in which a young woman was raped and murdered by four men of a higher class. Well researched and documented, the only thing I would have recommended adding is social and historical context as far as how rape was handled during this time and how astounding it is that there even was a trial for this tragedy.
Profile Image for Mandi Lucci.
524 reviews1 follower
June 26, 2020
Good

I won The Poisoned Glass in a Goodreads giveaway. It took me a while to read as I usually read it when I had a few moments here and there. I will say that it did keep my interest from the beginning. Even though I knew what happened from the very beginning. I enjoyed this book immensely!!!
Profile Image for Christine Cazeneuve.
1,462 reviews40 followers
April 2, 2021
Poor Jennie

This is the second true crime book by this author that I have read. She tells a very thorough story and about lesser known or long forgotten crimes. It's so interesting to read the actual trial and see how it compares with today. The author provides plenty of visuals and what happened after to complete a very well rounded book.
Profile Image for Helen Agathocleous.
199 reviews2 followers
July 19, 2020
Well written

This was an interesting read and written very well. It is obvious a lot of research was done for the this book and I am glad it read likes a novel and not a history text book.
132 reviews1 follower
September 1, 2020
Based on a true story

The life and death of Jenny is told in a concise and factual manner. I appreciated the historical pictures throughout the book. My interest was held throughout the court trials and the whole book! Highly recommended.

Profile Image for Sheila Lowe.
203 reviews1 follower
August 22, 2020
Very interesting case from the turn of the Century.
Profile Image for Donnaskins.
401 reviews
October 4, 2021
The Kindle edition is missing several illustrations, and suffers from odd grammatical errors, such as:
“...they disposed of this body the they should have.”
“He was ordered him to drive across Hillman Street Bridge instead.”

As to the content. . . Times haven't changed all that much. Seventeen-year-old Jennie, thinking she was in the company of friends, was drugged with chloral hydrate and raped by her "friends" while she was unconscious; when she died, they left her body by the side of the road. During the trial, she was portrayed as promiscuous, as if that excuses assault and murder. Her attackers were characterized as upstanding young men who would never do such a thing.

Depending on the source, every fifth or sixth woman you meet is the victim of rape or attempted rape. Notice that statistics report "who was raped," using the passive voice, but never comment on the rapists.

So how many men rape, or attempt rape? One out of five? One out of six?

Why does society ignore this question?
Profile Image for Belinda Earl  Turner.
390 reviews3 followers
October 5, 2021
The Crime of the Century

On the morning of 0ctober 18, 1900 a delivery driver in Patterson, New Jersey discovered the lifeless body of a young woman. Thus began the investigation of what was dubbed one of the “ crimes of the century”.
Initially the officials were puzzled as to who she was , and how she died. The first part of the mystery was solved when a young woman came forward to say that she was her sister, Jennie Bosschieter, and that Jenny was only 15 despite her appearance. She added that sh the family m
had thought that she had spent the night with a friend
That only left the officials to find out what killed Jennie and why she wasn’t wearing any drawers! To follow this case with the detectives of the day, read The Poisoned Glass!
❤️✝️✡️❤️
Profile Image for Leslie Ghiglieri.
Author 1 book16 followers
March 18, 2022
Kimberly Tilley does an excellent job portraying a tragic crime which occurred in the 1900s, but reads like a current event. I was very interested to learn about that era and the immigrants in the story who struggled to make a better life for themselves and their families, but lived in a society where those who could, preyed on the vulnerable. The story is a sad one and the reader can't help but want justice for the poor victim. I found myself unable to put the book down, particularly as I got close to the end, feeling anxious to find out if the responsible party(ies) would have to pay. Tilley keeps the reader engaged to the last.
Profile Image for Gojan.
Author 3 books69 followers
July 19, 2020
This well-researched and historically true account of the rape and murder of a New Jersey teenage girl in 1900 is as well-paced and character-driven as any modern, fictional crime saga.

Set against the social conventions and courtroom norms of the times, it also gives insight into pre-technology police work and what me might consider today as some rather shoddy evidence gathering techniques. Some things never change, however: human nature, the bad and the good, remains the same and is on display in this book. The goofball, sensational newspaper coverage of 1900 is just an earlier and less refined version of today’s whacky media universe.

Whether justice, by our contemporary standards, finally prevails in this tale is something the author allows the reader to judge. In the end, I give the writer credit for rescuing this episode of history from obscurity and doing it in a factual, methodical way that both informs and entertains.
240 reviews4 followers
July 5, 2021
Well written, eminently readable

True crime with a true twist. Reported in the present tense, nevertheless Tilley never tries to present any of her personality onto the story. The research is incredible. The story is believable. Do not miss her next book. I think it is even better.
Profile Image for LGVReader.
417 reviews5 followers
October 2, 2021
Remember Jenni

I read the authors other book, Cold Heart, even though I am not a true crime fan. I read this one right after and I am glad I did. Jenni
Bosschieter could be any young woman today and she was forgotten to history until this book. The men who raped and murdered her could be any young men today and some themes haven't changed since 1900... " she was drinking, " she was in a saloon with four men," etc.
5 reviews
July 4, 2022
Excellent book club selection! A well-written and fascinating book about the murder of a young, disadvantaged immigrant girl by four wealthy men.
I typically don’t read true crime and probably would have never read it but for my book club. I really enjoyed it and the author’s other two books. I might turn into a true crime fan yet!
Profile Image for Nancy .
82 reviews1 follower
July 26, 2020
A favorite

If you like historical things and true crime books, you will like this book. It is well written, easy to follow and well researched. You can form your own opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendants.
62 reviews1 follower
July 30, 2020
Historical. Book

This is a historical tail of a murder of no consequence and it's retelling makes me wonder why, there is no social redeeming moral lesson or any other lesson to be learned aside from the precise and very competent depiction of life at the turn.of the previous century.
21 reviews
October 3, 2021
As with Kimberly Tilley's previous book I read this one also is very captivating and well written. It's about a case in the early 1900's and she again brings the story alive. I really enjoy reading her books and learning about these OLD cases and seeing the similarities of the judicial system and police work of that time versus current practices. I do have to say...I'm glad we've had quite a lot of advancements in our forensics though! :)
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